Restless
by The Official Girl Wonder
Summary: "Breaking down in front of them...He actually looked his own age for once." The Team witnesses Robin having a nightmare. Watching him scream in his sleep, they realize just how young and scared he is, and, taking a leap of faith, Robin reveals a secret.


**A/N: This was originally supposed to be the seventh chapter for "The Three A's of Dick Grayson", but…the story kind of wrote itself. I have no idea how it changed from humor to hurt/comfort, but it did, and now it doesn't belong in the series, so I made it a one-shot!**

**Disclaimer: If someone can come up with a scenario in which it's possible for me to own Young Justice, I'd love to hear it.**

They'd been trying to get him to do it for weeks.

"Robin, there's nothing wrong with it," Megan insisted.

"Yes, there is! Anyway, I don't want to," responded Robin, who was working out past some encryptions on his wrist computer.

The two were in Mount Justice's entertainment room. Robin sat on the couch in his civvies, trying Megan's patience as she tried to convince him.

"Robin," Megan said in a stern warning voice.

"Oh, come on, Miss M-"

"No arguments, Robin,"

Robin snickered. "Um, I think I can make this decision myself. Thanks, _Mom_."

"Apparently, you can't," Megan replied, not releasing her serious tone, "because you're going to do yourself more harm than good if you don't do this."

"But M'gann-"

"No room for negotiation."

"I'm not even that tired!"

"You're. Taking. A. _Nap_."

At that moment, a utility closet off to the side burst open, and Kaldur, Artemis, Wally, and Connor fell out of it and onto the floor.

"Dude!" said Wally, standing up, "That's what this whole debate was about? A nap?"

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Were you guys spying on us?"

"No, of course not," replied Artemis, "We were just concerned. I mean, you two have been going back and forth for almost half an hour."

"Right," said Robin.

"I agree with Megan," Connor said somewhat randomly.

"Whaaat?" Robin whined, "I'm not tired."

Artemis laughed. "Robin, you sound like a little kid who doesn't want to go to sleep."

"He _is_ a little kid who doesn't want to go to sleep," Wally said, smirking.

"I'm not a little kid! Kaldur, tell them to stop picking on me!"

"'Kaldur, tell them to stop picking on me!'" mimicked Wally. "What's wrong? Does the little baby need a bottle?"

"Wally, that's enough," Kaldur said (just in time too because Robin was about to launch himself off the couch), "However, Robin, you did already tell us that you did not sleep at all last night. Surely, you are exhausted."

"Not you too," Robin moaned, "Guys, I'm thirteen, _and_ I've gone way longer without sleep before. I can handle it, so stop treating me like a toddler!"

Just then, Wally developed a devilish grin. "Well, Robin, if you won't take a nap out of your free will, then we'll just have to force you!"

Robin's eyes grew wide with fear as the whole team unexpectedly tried to grab him.

After a series of complex flips and other dodging methods, his teammates lay disoriented on the ground.

They heard a cackle from down the hallway, followed by, "Sorry, guys. Maybe next time!"

* * *

><p>Such occurrences went on for the next month.<p>

M'gann had tried telepathically persuading him to rest.

Kaldur kept passing hints.

Zatanna tried using magic, which turned Robin's skin a light blue color, but had no effect on his sleeping pattern.

Wally and Artemis even locked Robin in his room once, hoping he'd take the hint.

Connor wasn't sure what to do, so he told Black Canary. Black Canary just laughed and said, "He's a bat. Don't get your hopes up."

Basically, the team had tried everything short of drugging the Boy Wonder, and Wally was even starting to consider that. After all, with the right chemicals…

* * *

><p>So, it's fair to say that they weren't expecting to return from a mission and find Robin, whom they had believed to still be in Gotham, passed out on the couch.<p>

"Robin?" Artemis asked tentatively, not believing her eyes.

Robin didn't even stir.

"…Is he dead?" Connor asked, having never seen Robin keep so still before.

M'gann gasped. "Is he?" she asked, thinking along the same lines as Connor.

Wally snickered while Kaldur replied, "No, he is…sleeping."

"So, let me get this straight," whispered Artemis, not wanting the wake Robin, "We've been fighting tooth and nail to get this kid to take a nap, and all of a sudden, Bird Boy decides to just randomly go to sleep?"

"Perhaps he had a difficult mission in Gotham," Kaldur whispered back.

The rest of the Team nodded in agreement, and turned back to Robin. He was snoring lightly and lay curled up into a little ball. His messy black hair hung over his face, covering part of his masked eyes. One gloved hand hung off of the couch, and the other was folded against his chest.

After a few more moments of watching the little bird, the older teens turned to leave, but they stopped when they heard Robin's breathing hitch and accelerate.

Worried, they wandered back in to see the boy now gasping and hiccupping. His face was wet with the tears escaping his mask. He trembled ever so slightly.

"What's going on?" Artemis asked, "Is he having a nightmare or something?"

"I don't know if it's a nightmare, but I sense…distress," M'gann said softly.

"Mami!"

They all looked at the boy in shock, as he struggled in his sleep on the couch. He appeared to be wrestling with his cape.

"Tati!"

"Oh, no," Wally said, worry etched onto his face, "Not this again."

"What is it, Wally?" Kaldur asked.

"He _is_ having a nightmare," Wally explained, "But this particular one just devastates him. Who knows how many times he's had this one over the past few years?"

At his teammates' questioning stares, he elaborated, "Robin and I hang out a lot. One time, he, Ro-…Red Arrow, and I had a sleepover…He had this same nightmare. He was thrashing around the same way, and we were convinced he was actually having night terrors. When we finally woke him up…he…he wouldn't stop crying."

M'gann looked at Robin worriedly. He was going to hurt himself if he didn't wake up soon. Apparently sporting the same thought, Wally placed a hand on Robin's shoulder keeping him steady. "Robin? Come on, buddy. I need you to wake up here."

„Nu!" Robin screamed, causing the rest of his teammates to jump back. „Nu! Nu! Treziţi-vă! Va rugam sa trezit! Ridică-te! Nu vreau să mori!"

"I know, Robin," Wally said, apparently used to these outbursts during the younger boy's sleep, "I know, but you have to wake up now. Please, wake up."

„Sunt morţi! El le-a ucis! Acum, el zambeste!"

"Robin!" Wally tried again, "We're here! We're all here, little bro. We're here for you, so you have to wake up."

„Nu e corect," Robin whispered, shivering, and then, finally, he awoke to see his teammates hovering over him.

He didn't care what they'd seen at the moment, though. He just needed to feel better. He clutched onto Wally and cried into the older boy's costume fabric. Wally hugged him back, whispering, "It's okay. It's over."

Hesitantly but surely, the others joined the two brothers in their embrace, holding Robin tightly – guarding him.

Breaking down in front of them, he seemed so young. Scratch that. He actually looked his own age for once. After all, how many times had they forgotten that they relied on a thirteen-year old boy to hack into MI6 or incapacitate ten grown men by himself? They only remembered when he would poke fun at his teammates or replace Artemis's skin lotion with glue or…show fear like he had today.

The sobs died down after a while, replaced with an almost palpable silence.

After a moment, Robin's voice returned in an almost inaudible whisper. "I'm sorry. I'm being a baby…Just like you guys said."

A pang of guilt traveled through the room until it was finally voiced by Wally, "Robin, we didn't…When I said…"

As Wally struggled, Artemis decided to take over.

"Robin, we don't think you're a baby, and we're sorry we made you feel like that…What was your nightmare about?" she asked, remembering that sometimes people felt better after talking about their dreams.

Evidently, it wasn't the right move because Wally shook his head at her, eyes wide, and Robin released a new set of tears.

"I-I dreamed…It was about-"

"You don't have to tell us," Wally said, hurriedly cutting the boy off.

"I know, but…" Robin whispered, "I want to get this off of my chest…And I don't care what Batman says about it. I trust you guys, and I want to tell you."

Robin took a deep breath, trying to stop the trembling. The others released him from their arms, and Robin sat down on the couch.

"Wally already knows," he started, "Thanks for waking me up, by the way."

"Anytime, bro," Wally responded unsurely. Was Robin really going to tell them? Could he handle telling them?

Apparently, yes…but he started in the wrong language.

„Am vrut să vă spun acest lucru pentru atât de mult timp. Numele meu este-„

"Rob," Wally gently interrupted, smiling, "I think English would be an easier language to hear the story in."

Robin looked a little flustered. "Heh heh…Sorry, guys. I kind of switch to Romani when I'm freaked out or nervous."

"Romani?" Kaldur asked.

"Yeah, it's…It's my first language,"

While his teammates' eyes widened upon learning this new fact about their friend, Robin smiled and said, "I almost forgot!"

Without warning, he tugged off his domino mask, letting his vibrant blue irises meet the shocked faces of his friends.

"Now, where do I begin?"

Everyone besides Wally was still trying to figure out what was going on. Wally just smirked and sat beside the unmasked Boy Wonder, resting an encouraging hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

"Well, first off, when we're not on missions, feel free to call me Dick…Dick Grayson…I used to be an acrobat for Haley's Circus, one of the only three in the world who could perform the quadruple somersault. The other two were my Mom and Dad. I was born on the first day of spring, which is where the name 'Robin' comes from…"

And for the next hour or so, the Team listened in awestruck silence…as they were introduced to Dick Grayson…the boy who hid, smiling, behind Robin's mask.

**A/N: Yes, I said Romani, but Google Translate only provides Romanian, so I substituted.**

**Translations**

„**Mami!": "Mom!"**

„**Tati!": "Dad!**

„**Nu! Nu! Nu!**** Treziţi-vă****! ****Va rugam sa ****trezit****! ****Ridică-te! ****Nu vreau ****să ****mori****!": ****"No! No! No! Wake up! Please wake up! I don't want you to die!"**

„**Sunt ****morţi****! ****El le-a ****ucis****! ****Acum****, ****el ****zambeste****!": ****"They're dead! He killed them! Now, he's laughing!"**

„**Nu e ****corect****,": ****"It's not fair."**

„**Am ****vrut ****să vă spun ****acest lucru pentru ****atât de mult timp****. ****Numele ****meu este****-****": I've wanted to tell you this for so long. My name is-"**

**So, what did you guys think? Please review! (It's easy. The button's right there.)**


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